RFC: kernel coding style: prefer array to &array[0] ?

Joe Perches
2015-06-30T17:35:57Z

It seems most in-kernel uses are 'array' rather than '&array[0]'

Most of the time, using array is simpler to read than &array[0].

Exceptions exists when addresses for consecutive members are
used like func(&array[0], &array[1]);

Should this preference be put into checkpatch and/or CodingStyle?

Here's a possible checkpatch --strict addition
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 6 ++++++
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 90e1edc..362a9d8 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -5492,6 +5492,12 @@ sub process {
}
}

+# check for address of array[0] (not '&& array[0]' or &array[0].member)
+ if ($sline =~ /[^\&]&\s*($Ident\s*(?:(?:\-\>|\.)\s*$Ident\s*)*)\s*\[\s*0\s*\]\s*(?!\[|\.|\-\>)/) {
+ CHK("ADDRESSOF_ARRAY",
+ "Using addressof array '$1' index [0] may be simpler as '$1'\n" . $herecurr);
+ }
+
# check for semaphores initialized locked
if ($line =~ /^.\s*sema_init.+,\W?0\W?\)/) {
WARN("CONSIDER_COMPLETION",